Question by christina: Can anyone help me figure out how to get my own insurance that covers infertility (IVF) treatment?
I have infertility issues and I will have to have IVF to get pregnant. I work for a small company so they don’t carry infertility coverage. I was wondering if someone could help me find or knows how I can get my own personal insurance that cover infertility and IVF treatments?
Best answer:
Answer by lilloric
good luck on that it’s an elective procedure and i have never heard of any medical coverage paying for invitro or any other fertility treatment
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Unless the state requires them to, few insurance companies cover IVF. Even if you could find a private company that does, they probably wouldn’t take you on as a client, or if theydid, they wouldn’t cover the procedure since it’s a pre-existing condition.
(Remember, insurance companies make money by assuming that they’ll take in more in premiums than they pay out for medical care. So they aren’t going to accept clients who they know will cost them a lot of money.)
check with your doctor
Currently ONLY 15 states in the US mandate some sort of fertility coverage and it sounds like either your state does not require it or your company is too small – that could make it nearly impossible combined with the fact that any new insurance will consider this a pre-existing issue and not take you on.
http://www.resolve.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lrn_ic_stintro
I recommend that you contact Fertility Life lines – they have a free hotline that you can call and have someone help you to better understand your coverage and to do an analysis for you. Perhaps you can get your prescriptions covered or something like that with your current coverage. They were great – gave them my policy info and they researched it, got me all of the info on what was and was not covered and explained it to me. They also have information on prescription programs and shared risk programs.
http://www.fertilitylifelines.com/
If you cannot find insurance coverage here are some other suggestions:
1) Start with the RE – most doctors have a team that can help you with finding ways to pay for your treatment – they are amazing at figuring out your insurance benefits, coming up payment plans and may even be able to recommend medical studies / clinical trials that you may be able to participate in.
2) Grants -there are groups out there that fund raise for fertility treatments – you need to apply and cross your fingers.
3) Loans – banks and credit card companies (my friend used Capital One) offer fertility loans with fair interest rates and payment plans. Maybe see if you can borrow from a family member.
4) Serious budgeting – I also know couples who have taken part time / seasonal jobs to save up for treatments, sold things on ebay etc . . .
5) See if your employer as a flex spending account – you can set aside money tax free for medical things – everything from IVF to prescriptions to eye glasses etc . . .
Here is a great link for you:
http://www.nobabyonboard.com/
Good luck to you!
I have insurance that covers some infertility issues, but even on mine, IVF and IUI aren’t covered. You’ll be hard pressed to find insurance that covers ivf, unfortunately. And as someone else already mentioned, it’ll be a pre-existing condition. Good luck to you though!
If you live in one of the 15 states that currently mandate infertility insurance, you may be able to obtain a policy. Qualifications usually include that you currently have a standard health insurance policy, you are under 40 and have been diagnosed infertile for at least one year. Infertility treatments, such as IVF, can be very expensive usually because more than one procedure may be required to be effective. There are essentially 3 types of infertility insurance including a standard policy, a refund program and a loan program. In the refund or loan programs only a portion of the funds are repaid if pregnancy is unsuccessful. If you do not qualify for the insurance, many clinics have in-house finance programs that are very good. For more information on all this and the 15 states check our site.
health-quotes.isgreat.org – here is my health insurance plan. As I remember they can provide such a service.